Teacher finds ancient Celtic script stone while weeding garden
Graham Senior at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry with the stone he found, on Friday – The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum/SWNS
A geography teacher dug up a stone carved with an ancient Celtic script dating back to the 4th century while weeding his garden.
Graham Senior, 55, had been clearing out his overgrown flowerbed in Coventry when he made the discovery during lockdown in May 2020.
It has since emerged the sandstone rock bears an early form of Ogham script from Ireland – dating back around 1,600 years.
The 11cm (4in) stone has now gone on display at a museum while experts try to figure out the full meaning of what it says.
The rectangular block features a series of lines inscribed on three sides in a script primarily used in early medieval Ireland.
Scottish historian Prof Katherine Forsyth, from the University of Glasgow, has partially translated the words to reveal a name – Mael Dumcail.
The Ogham Stone carved using the ancient Celtic alphabet – The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum/SWNS
Mr Senior, a married father-of-two, believes the stone may have been carried as a keepsake by a Roman soldier who had left a sweetheart behind in Ireland.
Mr Senior said: “I just saw this thing sticking out of the flowerbed after digging about four or five inches down and thought ‘that’s not normal’. I could tell they were not scratchings from an animal or anything like that and decided to investigate.
“My wife has a friend who is an archeologist and we told her about it, expecting her to not be very impressed.
“But she began getting very excited about it and before we knew it, we were in touch with the local finds officer and various museums up and down the country. Nobody can say for 100 per cent certainty what it actually is – but it dates back around 1,600 years.
“My house sits about 100 yards from a Roman fort called Lunt which is a visitor attraction and downstream of the River Sowe. So we think a Roman soldier must have been walking away from there when he has dropped it and then it’s been flooded away.
“It’s a very tactile thing – when you have it in your hand, it just feels right – as if it was meant to be held. I never knew it at the time but it turned out to be quite a remarkable thing to find. The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum now has it but they have done me a nice 3D replica so I have a nice memento.”
Amazing find – we’re very lucky
Teresa Gilmore, finds liaison officer for Staffordshire and West Midlands told the BBC: “It’s an amazing find, we’re very lucky.
“Most Ogham inscriptions you generally find in the more Celtic areas – Scotland, Ireland and down in Cornwall – you don’t generally get them in the Midlands.”
Ms Gilmore said another theory was that it could have been used by Irish tradesmen to make contact with each other.
She believes it could be linked to people coming over from Ireland or to early medieval monasteries in the area.
The rock will be displayed at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry from Saturday.
Ali Wells, a curator at the museum, said: “It is really quite incredible. The language originates from Ireland. So, to have found it within Coventry, has been an exciting mystery.
“Coventry has been dug up over the years, especially the city centre, so there’s not that many new finds. It was quite unexpected.”
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